80’s Avant Garde Style Icons and Their Influence On Fashion Today

Gossip, dish, and inside style tips from back in the day to its influence now…

On this week’s Focus on Style- Talk, hosting duoSharon Haver & Brad Boles talk about the style icons of the 80’s Leigh Bowery, Klaus Nomi, Boy George, Annie Lenox, Grace Jones, Club Kids, and their influence over the late great designer Alexander McQueen and fashion as a whole

These provocative visual images were born out of the underground and performance art movements between London, New York and Berlin club scenes. Music and MTV changed an entire generation and how they saw style.

Listen to Sharon & Brad, LIVE, uncensored and off the cuff:

Brad says…

Brad & Sharon On the Air on Focus on Style-Talk

Brad’s dishing about his time as the make-up artist for Grace Jones on her “I’m Not perfect, But I’m Perfect For You” video, naked Prince concerts and the organic nature of how the style developed from early Boy George and Madonna costumes that came from thrift shops.

He recalls how his friend Sue Tilly, the author of the book about Leigh Bowery, and his enormous influence on today’s designers, like Alexander McQueen and Gareth Pugh.

Sharon says…

From Sharon’s downtown club days she believes that you should respect your past because from history comes the future. Both come from a generation that isn’t obsessed with celebrity but obsesses with creativity. You need to open up and inspire and not be afraid to do what is natural to you whether it be avant garde like Leigh Bowery or classical as in the perfect LBD.

…and don’t forget your crib notes for this broadcast:

Sorry, I’m not in NY to pull more photos, but here is a blast from our past that I dug up for the piece about Miss J: Clockwise from the top, we have Brad in his famous brunette, curly wig, Alexander Jenkins (Miss J / J. Alexander), Michael Stein, and myself.

Clubs:

From the Studio 54 celebrity and closeness to fame that gave way to the more avant garde to Area where every month was a different art installation